Beef farmers with holdings in one and two year TB testing parishes
should face no more regulation than is necessary and their position
at the centre of the TB control zones should be made as comfortable
as possible in the circumstances they face, the National Beef Association
said today.

It wants to see a working chain of pre-movement testing exempt
finishing units ( EFUs ) and auction sales established to relieve
the pressure on store cattle moving off breeding farms in TB hot
spots and has asked Defra to encourage this by revising its EFU
conditions.

“More cattle will be able to move through exempt sales
if there are enough EFUs in place to accept them,” explained
NBA chief executive, Robert Forster.

“This is why we have asked Defra to reconsider two EFU
conditions which we believe to be too harsh as well as counterproductive
because they will restrict EFU use and add to the pressure PMT
controls will put on farmers.”

The first is the requirement that equipment, machinery, clothing
and personnel on the EFU must not be shared with other premises - even
under the same ownership.

“This is over prescriptive. TB is not FMD and the risk
of it being passed on to cattle on another unit, or building, through
shared equipment, machinery, clothing and personnel is extremely
low,” explained Mr Forster.

“Defra must exercise a sense of proportion and allow more
EFUs to be established by removing this excessive restraint. We
are quite sure that only a handful of finishers could set up an
EFU in which equipment, machinery, clothing and personnel were
exclusive to the EFU itself and this would make EFUs less effective.”

“Our second point is the requirement that manure or used
bedding is not spread on grassland. The biosecurity argument to
justify this measure is also being overplayed.”

“If manure is stored for a period before spreading we are
sure there would be no additional biosecurity risk if it was used
on grass as well as arable land because badgers would root amongst
it for worms, whatever the location, and fermentation would mean
the risk of TB spread to wildlife would be too small to measure
anyway.”

“The important biosecurity safeguards for EFUs are that
there is no possibility of direct contact with other cattle and
that badgers cannot enter the feed storage and feeding areas. We
support Defra's inclusion of these but have asked it to revise
others,” Mr Forster added.